Round Barrow(s)

Fieldnotes

A pair of quite large barrows at the top of Compton Down, nicely preserved despite being in a thoroughly ploughed field that has covered up any ditch that they may have been. The GPO stuck a telephone pole in the middle of one too. I like telephone poles but there is a limit.

There is one barrow considerably larger than the other and they overlap a bit. They have been excavated in the past but no mention of any findings on the official record. MAGIC notes worked flints visible on the surface. Many barrows around these parts are conspicuously off to one side of a hilltop so they can be seen from down below (or indeed so they can see down there!) but these are right on top and invisible until you get fairly close.

Close-up access requires going across the field which is of course supposed to be rather naughty, though all the dog walkers of Oliver's Battery seem to do it. I used to live very nearby and even my neighbours whose houses backed onto the field didn't know what these mounds were! Approach on foot by Texas Drive or from the end of Old Kennels Lane; both involve reasonably flat and easy dirt tracks.